Portsmouth Might Consolidate Town, School Facilities Management

PORTSMOUTH, RI—Town and school officials are in discussions to consolidate civic and school facilities management operations into a single town-wide department.

Town Administrator Richard Rainer told the Town Council on Monday that the impetus for the discussions is the upcoming retirement of school Facilities Director Don Davidson at the end of the school year.

Rainer said the his administration continues to work under a council mandate to find ways to consolidate and optimize town and school functions for financial and efficiency purposes.

So far, talks between the town administration, school officials, union leaders and rank-and-file employees have been productive, Rainer said, and the plan would "have no effect on personnel and the unions in place."

The plan is still in the formative stages, Rainer said, and any formal plan is subject to Town Council approval.

Rainer said the plan entails one department that would handle custodial services, preventative maintenance, groundskeeping, professional development and training for both the town and the school department.

The department would be led by a professional facilities director, Rainer said, and town leaders have conducted field trips to Westerly and Manchester, NH to see where a similar concept has been implemented, "specifically the replacement of the facilities director with a professional facilities director from a national firm."

Superintendent Ana Riley told the council that "in no way do we have any intention of outsourcing any of our custodial staff," who are major contributors to the health and welfare of Portsmouth students."

Riley characterized the process as using Davidson's retirement as an opportunity to "collaborate on this project, which looks to have been really successful in Westerly and Manchester and we hope we can bring that same level of expertise in Portsmouth."

The plan could lead to long-term cost savings, Rainer said, but a successful implementation could result in some up-front costs. But there would be savings with bulk purchases for things like grass seed and supplies.

It still is too soon to start throwing around numbers, town officials said. A future request for proposals will give the town more concrete figures once responses come in.

The town and school would split the cost with the school paying 60 percent.

Riley said that Davidson has served the Portsmouth School District for about 10 years.

Town Council President Keith Hamilton thanked both Rainer and Riley for their work to find ways to "increase results."

"This is a great start," he said.